January 9th
by Rome0is0Burning
Summary: Harry Potter visits a small graveyard every year to see one man. Severus Snape, the bravest man he ever knew.


January 9th

Every year on the same day, one Harry James Potter made his way to the small graveyard on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. It was the graveyard that Harry Potter had established for the brave men and women who had given their lives for wizards and witches everywhere at the Battle of Hogwarts where Harry famously escaped the killing curse for the second time and defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort once and for all.

Many were buried there, but Harry only had eyes for one gravestone in particular.

_Here Lies Severus Snape  
><em>_Headmaster of Hogwarts  
>Order of Merlin First<em> Class  
><em>"Death-the last sleep? No, the final awakening"<em>

"Professor"

Harry gave a small nod toward the headstone, beautifully carved in black marble with gothic font and a single lily engraved at the bottom.

"I can't believe it's been a year already, the kids are doing really well. James should be getting his Hogwarts letter this year. Funny to think about, he can hardly wait to get to the castle. Has a lot of my dad in him, I wouldn't be surprised if he found himself a couple close friends and gave Headmaster McGonagall all sorts of trouble. Don't worry though, he's not a complete dunderhead."

Harry had a small smile play at the end of his lips at the use of the Professor's favorite name for his potion's students.

"Ginny is doing great, I think it'll be really tough for both of us to see James leave but it might be nice to only have two kids in the house."

Harry then took a seat at the small bench opposite of the black gravestone.

"Funny thing is, James is so much like my dad and Lily is so much like my mother. Kind and true but a bit stubborn as well. I know I say thank you for keeping me safe all those years every time I come but I think I'd also like to say thank you for showing me my mother. Those memories you gave me at first were terrifying because they told me the truth of what I had to do to finish off Voldemort, but you're the only one who every really taught me anything about my mom. My dad's friends were always around but I never knew too much about her. So thank you, thank you very much sir."

It was an an unnaturally warm January, so Harry began to remove his outermost coat and tugged on his scarf to loosen its grip on his neck. After placing them aside he continued,

"So I have an interesting story I think you'll like, sir. Well we give the kids an allowance if they do small chores around the house like wash dishes or walk the dog. So last August Al came up to me and asked if he could do extra chores 'round the house to make more money and when I asked him why he just shrugged and replied with a small 'Dunno, just because'. I gave him extra things to do but unlike James he never spent it at Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade when we went as a family until one particular week. We were in Diagon Alley and we went to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and he ducked into a corner and bought something that none of us saw. When we got home he immediately ran up to his room with his box and brought it back down suddenly wrapped very nicely.

"It was Lily's birthday that day and he presented her the box with great excitement and she opened it up and squealed so loudly that all the portraits in the house immediately covered their ears and yelled at her to stop, it was quite funny. Apparently he saved up to buy Lily a blue pygmy puff that she had seen at the store a few weeks ago. It turned out to be her favorite gift.

"It had never really struck me until then how close Al and Lily were, all the kids get along but the two of them were always especially close. I always thought it was because they were closest in age but I started reading about names in the wizarding world. Apparently if you name your children after someone who was a part of your life sometimes traits from that person can be passed down to them although it never really tends to make a difference.

"So sir, I guess you and mum's friendship was just powerful enough to be passed onto my children. Quite remarkable actually from what I've heard. It tends to be rare mostly just things people say as a fairy tale. Not sure why but I think you and mum had something to do with that.

"Anyway, I hope you're doing well wherever it is you are. I'm sure mum is keeping you company, I know she'll have forgiven you for what you called her in your 5th year. If she doesn't well mum hopefully you're listening too. He deserves it, trust me.

Harry stood up from his seat and conjured one single white lily with green and red colors sprouting from the center of the flower. He laid it gently at the base of the gravestone and wiped away snow collecting at the top.

"Thank you again sir, I'll never be able to say that enough. Until next year I suppose."

Harry put on his jacket and started to walk away from the small graveyard and walked back to the village. He would be back in a few months to pay his respects to the other members of the grave yard who laid down their lives the night of the final battle but January 9th was reserved for one man and one man only.

The bravest man he ever knew.

* * *

><p>This sort of came to me one day while listening to some sadder type music. I don't own HP or any of these characters, they all belong to J.K. Rowling!<p>

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